Question: Can you find out why the pavement on Edwards Road is being removed down to dirt? Usually repaving is done over the existing pavement. The work is now into its second week, and the traffic situation is really bad.

Answer: Road construction is a hot topic around here. Those who regularly use Edwards Road may have noticed quite a bit of work going on in the past couple of weeks. The good news is it won't last much longer.

For those who aren't familiar, Edwards Road runs from North Pleasantburg Drive through Botany Woods to Wade Hampton Boulevard. It's a popular cut-through for many drivers and a main access point to homes and families in and near Botany Woods.

This project stretches from North Pleasantburg to near the Botany Woods entrance and has, at times, knocked the road down to one lane of traffic with road construction flaggers in place on either end to maintain order. This, as mentioned by our reader, causes traffic to back up while drivers wait for their turn.

So, what's going on?

It's actually a reconstruction project, which is a bit more complicated than repaving, according to Terry Bragg of Greenville County CoTransco, the group that manages road projects in Greenville County.

Here's a bit of background: A couple of years ago, the state gave about $12.5 million to Greenville County CoTransco to be split among the county's various house districts for road improvements. To qualify for the funds, roads had to have a pavement quality index rating of poor or worse and had to be traveled by at least 1,000 cars per day. Edwards Road was chosen because it met those requirements, Bragg said.

Unlike repaving projects, which are typically done over top of existing surfaces, road reconstruction projects are divided into two major phases, Bragg said. The first phase includes grinding the existing road down to the dirt, mixing that ground material with cement, and compacting it back in place. Once that is done, the road has to sitfor at least 72 hours before the paving phase can begin.

In the case of Edwards Road, Bragg said the wait for paving is taking a bit longer than usual because contractors are working to catch up on other projects before they can return.

Bragg said crews are expected to begin paving later this week. The entire project should be complete by early next week, if everything goes as planned and the weather cooperates.

Buy Photo

Edwards Road in Greenville County is stripped down to dirt and gravel and road crews work on repaving. Sept. 2017(Photo: Elizabeth LaFleur/STAFF)

Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to elafleur@greenvillenews.com or contact Elizabeth on her Facebook page at facebook.com/ElizabethSLaFleur. Answers will appear in the Tuesday and Friday print editions of The Greenville News.